8 Jun 2023
GRAY MAKES HAY IN THE SUNSHINE
Summer is officially here! Round three of the Ringwood Summer Series was extended to have ten sections with three laps being possible before the sun went down. Not only were there ten sections but they were also cleverly laid out to challenge riders of all levels resulting in no clean trials on the evening.
After two close second places Oli Gray put in a strong ride taking the expert class on seventeen, ten marks ahead of Ben Harrison, this gives Oli the lead in the series ahead of the absent Ben Lovelace. Gray was trailing behind both Harrison and Ben Skinner after the first lap but he put together two superb laps for just five marks to finish well ahead. Section 7 with steep tight climbs and drops between trees was particularly impressive as there was little grip , Gray and Harrison both got fives on lap one. On laps two and three Gray took just a single dab on each visit whilst Harrison lost seven and Skinner ten. Harrison had one of his best results pipping Skinner by a single mark.
In his first ride in this year’s series Andy Ball topped the Clubman B class making it the third different winner, Gary Tarrant who won round one and leads the series was four marks back was one ahead of round 2 winner Derek Francis who is only one point behind Tarrant in the series. Keith Hutchings was one ahead of course setter Andy Gates in fourth.
Kev Downer made it three out of three on his Beta with the lowest score on the night, nine marks lost. He lost seven of his marks not getting grip on the steep section 7 including a rare five on the last lap. Visiting rider Tim Bird was a good second six marks back, three ‘threes’ on section 7 accounting for most of his losses. Second and third in the series Shamus Doohan and Mark Davis traded scores all evening, Doohan finishing four ahead of Davis who took fourth on cleans from Stuart Bunce on his Honda Twinshock. John Miles on his BSA Bantam lost twenty five which impressively would have given him a top six finish in the moderns.
With the number of Pre65 machines a rider commented before the meeting that it was like a ‘mini Talmag’ Mike Jarrett on his B40 BSA produced the lowest score of fourteen to top the Pre65 D and to lead the series. He lost eight of his marks on the first lap including a five hitting a tree on a tight turn on section five, he had a clean second lap and stalled on the tricky section 2 on the final lap for a five. Trev Newell was second on his recently acquired B40 ahead of Ivan Haskell riding the ex Dave Freemantle BSA C15 who finished just one mark behind Newell. Andy Withers started with eight cleans but then fell on Section 1 resulting in retirement and being gutted. Geoff Parker was the lone Twinshock runner matching Haskells score of twenty nine. Ollie Barr was the only youth rider to finish the trial completing the D route as B route rider David James retired due to a shoulder injury from a previous trial.
Being back to ten tricky sections made for a really good trial, ‘a proper trial’ as one rider put it, the next round will be in two weeks time on 22nd June.
Results
Experts: Oli Gray (Beta) 17, Ben Harrison (Beta) 27, Ben Skinner (Vertigo) 28
Clubman B: Andy Ball (Beta) 17, Gary Tarrant (GasGas) 21, Derek Francis (TRS) 22, Keith Hutchings (TRS) 28, Andy Gates (Vertigo) 29, Graham Harrison (Vertigo) 32.
Sportsman C: Kev Downer (Beta) 9, Tim Bird (TRS) 15, Shamus Doohan (TRS) 20, Mark Davis (Montesa) 24, Stuart Bunce (Honda) 24, Carl Barr(TRS) 25.
Pre65 C: John Miles (BSA) 25
Novice: Gary Sainsbury (Beta) 40, Tim Rees 65 Steve Dibdin (Bultaco) 70, Nigel Turner (Triumph) 72
Pre65 D: Mike Jarrett (BSA) 14, Trev Newell (BSA) 28, Ivan Haskell (BSA) 29, David Chad (Triumph) 66
Twinshock D: Geoff Parker (Fantic) 29
Youth D: Ollie Barr (TRS) 64
Full results: see https://www.ringwood-mc-lcc.co.uk
Photos: See Awsportsphoto on facebook
